Saturday 2 February 2002 12.04 EST
First published on Saturday 2 February 2002 12.04 EST

It's an old joke, but ask Italians from the wealthy north to name their favourite sight in the south and they will say it is Rome - in the rear-view mirror. Yet for all the elitism, northerners spend a great deal of their holidays from the capital downwards, through Calabria and Sicily, all the way to islands that are as close to Africa as they are to the Italian mainland.

The best time to visit is in the low season - before July and after August - because the beaches are not thronging (or thonging) with posturing Milanese men and women, mobile phones surgically attached to their ears, screaming children and a flotilla of yachts large enough to take on the Royal Navy.

Panarea

This takes a bit of getting to - it's about four hours by hydrofoil from Naples or Palermo. But once you reach Panarea, the smallest island of the Aeolian archipelago (3km by 1.5km), it will have been worth it. Certainly the Italian glitterati have thought so ever since the renowned director Michelangelo Antonioni filmed L'Avventura here in the late 1950s.

Indeed, Panarea has barely changed since, with no cars and hardly any streetlighting. Little Vespa three-wheelers greet new arrivals at the tiny harbour of San Pietro and take them to their hotels, the mostfamous of which is the impossibly romantic Raya (in Italy, it's a honeymoon hotspot). Set into the hill overlooking the port, the white-washed hotel has an organic Moorish feel, all curves and arches.

There are 30 rooms, each with a spectacular terrace pointing towards neighbouring Stromboli and its active volcano. The owners have decked out the rooms with Indonesian furniture as well as incorporating typical Mediterranean flourishes such as the cool, blue mosaic tiles on the floors and in the bathrooms. Breakfast is served either on the terrace or at the bar, while dinner is taken at the restaurant in San Pietro, which has a superb array of fresh fish, shellfish and pasta and some excellent local-ish wines. Oil lamps illuminate each table, the moon and stars throw a gentle spotlight on to the terrace and Stromboli adds the flashier pyrotechnics every 12 or so minutes.

The one beach on Panarea is a leisurely 25-minute walk away and there are boats all day to the other Aeolian Islands such as Lipari, Vulcano and Salina - where they filmed Il Postino. But, in truth, leaving Panarea is not that easy.

Where to book: A double room at the Hotel Raya (+0909 83013/101, hotelraya.it) costs approx £120-£180 per night depending on the season.

Castel di Tusa

This enchanting fishing village between Messina and Palermo on the north coast of Sicily is home to the world famous hotel of Atelier Sul Mare. Antonio Presti, the owner and art-loving philanthropist, has brought his passion to the tourist world by allowing 14 of the 40 rooms in his hotel to be designed by internationally renowned artists who were at liberty to do as they wished with the one proviso that there was a bed and a space to hang clothes. The result is extraordinary. Most of all, staying here is fun, a holiday in itself before you even sample the splendour of the north coast of Sicily.

Designer rooms include the Chilean film director Raoul Ruiz's black tower at the top of the hotel, with its round bed which revolves while the ceiling retracts to reveal the sky at night; to the slightly ghoulish Terra e del Fuoco by Luigi Mainolfi, which is completely covered by shards of terracotta apart from a metal chair which winds its way up to the ceiling; and the sleek minimalism of Hidetoshi Nagasawa's Mistero per la Luna.

A personal favourite, however, was the room that Presti was involved in creating himself as a memorial to the Italian poet and film director Paolo Pasolini: it's like sleeping in a cave. All the surfaces have the slippery look of a grotto, while the end wall, made entirely of glass, looks out to the ancient village and the sea.

Guests can change rooms each evening, which gives every night's sleep a completely different context. The hotel has a bar decorated by graffiti artists and a gigantic pizzeria, while outside the front door, in a rocky cove perfect for relaxing and swimming by day, there is a decent local restaurant, bar and gelataria.

Half an hour away by car are the splendid beaches of Cefalu and an hour further is the underrated capital, Palermo, where you can find the stylish, super-romantic Santandrea restaurant in Piazza Sant'Andrea.

Where to book: The art rooms cost around £95 per night. (+0921 334295, ateliersulmare.com)

Though there has not been an eruption in more than 100 years, the volcano still dominates, from the sharp, lava landscape to the hot springs and mountain caves, which are filled with steam to create natural saunas. Pantelleria has no beaches and there is no bar scene. It is literally caught between two worlds, with Tunisia less than 50 miles to the south.

There are a number of reasonably priced hotels by the port, but nowhere is the peace of the island better captured than at Monastero, owned by fashion designer and photographer Fabrizio Ferri. Staying at his exclusive complex of dammuso - the traditional tiny arabic dome-topped houses - on the south side of the island is not cheap (you have to rent the whole place), but if you can gather a group of 10-13 people, you can taste the high life for around £142 per night per person.

What you get for your money is your own little village of interior-designed houses, a chef, a maid, full board, swimming pool and the use of a Land Rover or car - it's sheer decadence but with real taste. If the pool doesn't suit, then head for the lake on the crater known as the Mirror of Venus, or the crystal-clear sea. After dinner, you can lounge around bedouin-style on a floor of rugs and cushions.

Monastero feels like you've flown halfway around the world and it's practically on your doorstep.

Where to book: Italian Chapters ( 020-7722 0722, villa-rentals.com) offers the five dammusi houses to rent from £10,000 for a week depending on the season.

Taormina

When you arrive here, you just know you're hanging with the super-chic set. High up in the mountains overlooking the Sicilian coast to one side and Mount Etna to the other, Taormina is a small, hillside town, a labyrinth of cobbled streets, packed with chichi shops and restaurants. In the summer months, the place reverberates with the sound of tourists, mainly Italian, parading from one end of the town to the other.

The San Domenica Palace is the town's most luxurious hotel, an enormous 15th-century convent, which, like the town itself, has been restored to past glories after being all but pummelled into the ground during the last war. The hotel needs to be sampled for its outrageous opulence and comedic value. Where else would you see tourists from the Shires dipping into the pool only to exclaim, head well above the water to keep the bouffant perky, "It's colder than the one at home"?

Peculiarly, the cloisters at the heart of the building have been surrounded by a glass partition, a real-life goldfish bowl experience, but that is the only place visitors may feel uncomfortable. Everywhere else, decadence rules, from beautifully appointed rooms with huge beds, luxurious bathrooms and the fluffiest robes imaginable, to the numerous lounges filled with sumptuous red velvet sofas and antique armchairs, and terraces where drinks and dinner can be taken if weather permits - and, of course, it always does.

At night, the choice of eateries and bars in town is practically endless, but for yet another romantic meal, try the roof-terrace restaurant of vicolo Stretto, which boasts excellent food and mesmerising views.

Where to book: A junior suite at the San Domenica Palace (+ 0942 23701) costs approx £260 a night.